Introduction
As the heart of Hurricane Erin strikes the North Carolina coast, Winston-Salem is left with the remnants of an American southern summer. Under the overcast skies, a faint, dusty orange glow spreads through the late afternoon, clashing with the blue-green of the court and the teal of Jaume Munar’s Adidas top. The temperatures have dropped, but the 80% humidity lingers, forcing players to peel sweat-soaked polyester from sunburned skin.
On Court 2, Lorenzo Sonego is heaving his legs from sideline to sideline as Munar fires yet another forehand down the line. The night before, Sonego emerged victorious from a three hour, three-setter against Wake Forest’s own, Stefan Dostanic. Munar, by contrast, dismissed Sumter Challenger champion Mattia Bellucci in straight sets. Now, Sonego’s body is collecting on its debts in fatigue.
Beyond the university walls, the industrial skyline fades. Munar storms through the final set, securing a 4-6 6-4 6-1 win over the reigning 2024 champion.
First-Set Tactics
After securing the early break in the first set to go up 2-0, Jaume Munar found himself against a seemingly insurmountable opponent in Lorenzo Sonego. The Italian, notorious for his poor backhand, began to rip each forehand with a grunt in full forte, streaking sound-waves through the cerulean court. The original Munar strategy of controlling rallies and playing his forehand line into the lesser Sonego side is picked apart.
At any given opportunity, Sonego crowded the net, finding easier angles on his groundstrokes, executing effective drop-shots, and volleying with precision. On serve, Sonego leaned heavily on serve-and-volley, ending points before Munar could outhit him from the back of the court while simultaneously protecting his backhand.
Through playing aggressively, Sonego managed his fatigue effectively. Munar was ultimately forced into more vertical movement than the Spaniard would have liked. To get himself back into rallies, Munar attempted to push the Italian backwards with deep, topspin forehands. Nevertheless, if the point was on Sonego’s terms, he rushed the Munar forehand from the service line. This aided the disparity in the groundstroke battle. At the midway point in the second set, Sonego found himself up a set and a break, serving at 3-2.
Second-Set Turnaround
As the second set wore on, Sonego fatigued. Munar, who would go on to change his shirt three times throughout the match, looked mentally refreshed after an extended bathroom break. The Spaniard’s serving improved while Sonego’s faltered. The Italian’s forehand, so potent in the first hour of the match, was spraying errors. On the backhand side, Sonego’s weaker stroke continued to be targeted. The points that Sonego ended early in the first set grew predictable. Munar, untroubled by net play off a weak return, adjusted quickly. The tides had turned, and finally, Munar’s patternless spraying of groundstrokes to both corners was drawing the Italian into baseline slugfests.
As an added advantage, Munar incorporated copious backhand slices on the return. Defensively, this enabled Munar to rejoin the rally as a neutral. Sonego was forced to back off of the net to prevent the ball from dropping onto his shoelaces. By forcing Sonego off the forecourt, the Italian gambled on low-percentage shots to end the point early. His only alternative was to wear himself down in prolonged rallies.
Conclusion
Munar faces a tall order in his next round against unseeded Márton Fucsovics. The Hungarian looks sharp after his first three matches, the latest win coming against Munar’s countryman Roberto Bautista Agut. If Munar can implement the problem-solving on display against Sonego, he could find himself in his first semi-final since February.